


Jack Sees Green

by awgaskarth0805



Category: All Time Low (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Emotional Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-19
Updated: 2020-09-19
Packaged: 2021-03-07 15:50:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,205
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26550175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/awgaskarth0805/pseuds/awgaskarth0805
Summary: When Alex talks to a girl, Jack worries that he won't have time for him anymore.
Kudos: 3





	Jack Sees Green

“Hey, do we have band practice after school today?” Jack quietly asked Rian and Zack, as their history teacher was talking about the New Deal.   
“Yeah, it’s Thursday, we always have band practice on Thursday’s,” Rian replied, taking notes as he spoke.  
“Why wouldn’t we?” Zack added.  
“Well, I ask Alex every Thursday, but he’s been a bit busy with that girl he likes, and totally ignored my text,” Jack explained, sounding a bit bummed out.   
“Busy? They’re just talking, they haven’t even gone on their first date yet,” Zack stated.  
“To be fair, they’re going out tomorrow night, so I’d say it’s getting kind of serious,” Jack continued.  
“Shit, I forgot about that, that’s great for Alex. I will say, you think he’s too busy to text and hang out now? If they become exclusive, we’re probably only going to see him at band practice, since he’ll want to spend every other moment of his free time with his girl,” Rian joked, making Zack and himself laugh some.  
“Wait, does-“  
“Hey, the three of you need to stop talking, I’m trying to teach!” their teacher exclaimed, making them blush some, and quit talking.   
Jack spent the rest of the period thinking about what Rian had said; would Alex really only them at practice if things worked out with this girl? Alex was Jack’s best friend, and favorite person to pend time with, he couldn’t just be taken away like that.   
As Jack continued to overthink, an idea popped into his mind. It was an awful idea, but it would ensure that Alex would still have time to hang out with him, and not dedicate all of his free time to this girl. Jack questioned if he should really carry out his idea, but by the end of history, he’d made his decision.   
“I’ll see you guys at practice, I’ve got to go so I’m not late, you know how much Howard hates when kids are late!” Jack exclaimed, as the bell ending sixth period rang.   
“See you later at practice, man,” Rian said, as Jack bolted out of history, and down to psychology, where he just so happened to sit next to the girl where Alex was talking to.   
When he got to the classroom, Jack was glad to see that she was already there.  
“Hey, Carmen!” Jack said, a fake smile forming on his face.   
“Oh, um, hey Jack,” she replied, a bit surprised that Jack had started a conversation between the two of them.  
“So, your date with Alex is tomorrow night, right?” Jack continued.  
“Yeah, it is! I’m super excited, I really like him,”   
Carmen started to blush, and Jack felt a bit guilty about what he was going to do, but not guilty enough to pull the plug on it.  
“That’s great! Alex has actually wanted a girlfriend for a while now, he’s talked my ear off about it, so I’m glad he finally lowered his standards some and talked to you!”  
“Excuse me?”  
“Oh, don’t take it personal, you know Alex. Looks are really all he cares about, so he didn’t even consider asking you out for a long time, since he didn’t think you were pretty enough. I’m just glad it’s going to finally work out for you two!”  
“Work out? I’m not giving Alex another ounce of my time, what a jerk! I’m cancelling on him now,”   
Carmen pulled out her phone, and angerly typed out a text for Alex. Before Jack had the chance to say anything else, their teacher walked into the classroom, starting class.   
Throughout the period, Jack periodically looked over to Carmen, and felt bad when he saw the angered and hurt look on her face. He tried to tell himself that this was for the best; he wouldn’t have to share his best friend, and nothing would change.   
Eventually, the dismissal bell rang, and Jack bolted out to his car, knowing that he had to get right to practice, and he didn’t want Carmen to say anything else to him. As he drove to Rian’s Jack started to wonder how Alex would handle this, he hoped that Alex would just move on; maybe write a song about it, but not much else.   
When Jack got to Rian’s he parked in the driveway, and made his way inside, and down to the basement, where Rian and Zack were waiting.  
“Hey, Jack, how was your last class?” Rian asked, as Jack sat in the recliner he liked by the couch.  
“Um, interesting, I guess. I have to check something on my phone,” Jack said, not wanting to talk to his friends, and accidently reveal what he’d done.   
Zack and Rian didn’t ask questions, they just pulled out their phones, and began to scroll as they waited for Alex.  
“Hey, it’s been fifteen minutes, where’s-“   
Zack was cut off by the basement door being slammed shut, and loud footsteps making their way down the stairs. When Alex got to the bottom of the stairs, he was holding his guitar, and had an upset look on his face.  
“Alex, are you good, man? That was a lot of slamming and stomping,” Rian pointed out, as Alex sat down on the couch.  
“No, I’m not good. Carmen cancelled on me right before last period started,”  
“Wait, why? I thought you guys really liked each other,” Zack continued.  
“I did, too, but she said I was a shallow jerk, and that she didn’t want to waste her time with me. I don’t even know what I did or said to make her think that,”   
Alex took a deep breath, and put his head into his hands.  
“So, you’re just never going to try to talk to her about this? That’s a really unfair assumption for her to make,” Zack continued.  
“Probably not, I doubt she’ll ever talk to me again,”   
Jack really wanted to be happy; them not talking was exactly what he’d wanted, but seeing how hurt Alex was over this bothered Jack, he couldn’t believe he’d done this to his best friend.  
“You’re being really quiet, Jack, normally you’d be the first to tell Jack to not worry about this kind of shit,” Rian pointed out.  
“Yeah, um, about that,” Jack trailed off, terrified of how Alex was going to react.  
“Jack, did you do something that would make Carmen not want to go out with me?” Alex asked, sitting up and staring at his friend.  
“Well, it’s not that I did something, technically, it was really more of a talking thing,”  
“What did you say, Jack? Alex continued.  
“In last period, I may or may not have told Carmen that you only cared about looks, and that you lowered your standards when you started talking to her,”  
“You what?” Alex yelled, standing up.  
“Hey, I just didn’t want you to be tied up with her and to be with us, but-“  
“There’s no buts, man! I really liked this girl, and you were too selfish to let me have this!”  
“Alex, I just didn’t want you to be busy all the time, I-“  
“Well, I guess I won’t be, because Carmen is never going to talk to me again, all thanks to you! I guess you got what you wanted. Hope you’re happy, asshole,” Alex said, as he picked up his guitar, and headed to the stairs.  
“Where are you going?” Jack asked.  
“I’m going home, we’ll practice some other time,”   
Alex went up the stairs, slamming the door again.  
“Jack, what the fuck, man?” Zack asked.  
“Dude, why would you do that to Alex? He’s, like, your best friend,” Rian added.  
“This is your all’s fault!” Jack exclaimed.  
“How is that even possible?” Rian asked.  
“In history, you all told me he’d be too busy to hang out with us, aside from practice, and that freaked me out! He’s my best friend, I don’t want him to forget about me, because he has a girlfriend. I was jealous and stupid,” Jack explained, playing with the hem of his shirt.  
“Jack, we were joking. Sure, Alex wouldn’t be free at all times, but he’d make time for us, especially you. He’s not the type to forget about his friends if he gets into a relationship,” Zack pointed out.  
“I really fucked up,” Jack mumbled, sounding embarrassed.  
“Yes, you did. You’ve got to fix it, man,” Rian replied.  
“I know. I need to tell Carmen the truth, but I don’t have her number, and I don’t want to wait until tomorrow to tell her,”  
“I have it!” Rian exclaimed, pulling his phone out.  
“You have Carmen’s number?” Zack asked, laughing some.  
“We worked on a project together last year! Anyway, here it is, Jack,”   
Rian gave Jack his phone, and Jack put the number in his contacts list.  
“Thanks, now I have to go,” Jack said, standing up and grabbing his guitar.  
“Where are you going?” Rian asked.  
“Alex’s, I have to talk to him. I’ll call Carmen on the way and explain everything, but I have to talk to him,” Jack explained.  
“Good luck with that, hopefully he’ll actually give you a chance to explain yourself,” Zack said, as Jack quickly walked upstairs, and out to his car.   
On the ride over, he called Carmen and explained everything. She was upset, but understood Jack’s concern, and assured him that everything he was afraid of wouldn’t happen. Jack said that he was on his way to Alex’s to talk to him, and that he’d have Alex call her as soon as they were done talking, so they could still go on the date they’d planned.   
When Jack pulled into Alex’s driveway, all of the relief he’d just felt from his conversation with Carmen was quickly washed away with fear; he knew that Alex wasn’t going to want to talk to him, but he hoped that he would. Jack walked over to the front door, and let him self in, instantly hearing loud music coming from Alex’s room.   
Taking a deep breath, Jack went upstairs and down the hall to Alex’s room, opening up the door and walking in. When Alex noticed Jack, he rolled his eyes and turned off his stereo.  
“What’re you doing here, Jack?” Alex asked, sounding annoyed.  
“Alex, I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have done what I did, it was wrong and selfish,”   
Jack cautiously walked over to Alex’s bed, and sat at the foot.  
“Yeah, it was. I thought you were my best friend. Best friends don’t intentionally fuck things up for each other,”  
“Alex, I’m really sorry, but can I at least try to explain to you why I did it? You can still choose to hate me after if you want, but will you let me attempt at explaining myself first?”  
“I don’t hate you, but sure, why’d you do it?”   
Jack took a deep breath, working up the courage to continue on with this conversation.  
“Okay, so when I was in history with Rian and Zack, they were saying how if you and Carmen became an item, then you’d only see us during band practice, and that all of your free time would be spent hanging out with Carmen. I overthought it and didn’t realize that they were joking and got jealous. When I saw her in last period, I lied to her and make you sound like a dick, so nothing would change. I guess I was scared you’d never want to hang out, and impulsively doing this seemed like the right step. I’m really sorry, Alex,”   
The two of them stayed silent for a minute, while Alex thought of what he wanted to say.  
“Jack, you’re my best friend, do you really think that if I were to get a girlfriend, that I’d just totally forget about you, and spend all of my time with her? I wouldn’t do that, I don’t want anything like that to happen, and I’d make sure that it didn’t,” Alex assured, making Jack smile some.  
“I really appreciate you saying that. I shouldn’t have freaked out so much over this, I don’t even know why I took what Rian and Zack said so seriously,”  
“I don’t know why you did, either,” Alex replied, making them both laugh some.  
“So, are we okay?” Jack nervously asked.  
“Of course we are,”   
The two of them shared a quick hug, then Alex pulled out his phone.  
“I guess I should call Carmen, and try to explain this to her, and hope that she believes me,”  
“Well, I already took care of that for you. I called her on the way here and explained everything. I told her that you’d call after we talked so you could officially reschedule your date,” Jack explained.  
“Thank you so much for doing that, I doubt she’d believe me if I told her this,”  
“No problem. Well, I guess I’ll see you eventually,” Jack said, starting to stand up.  
“What do you mean? We have practice still! I’ll make things right with Carmen, then we can go back to Rian’s together, if that’s cool with you,”  
“It definitely is, I’ll let Rian know,”   
Jack sat at Alex’s desk and smiled to himself, feeling relieved that everything was okay again.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys, this was an idea I found on a prompt blog! I wanted to have this up on Thursday, but it took me longer to write than I expected! I still have some ideas to write, but they're mostly high school AU's, so if you have any requests for something aside from that, or more of that, I'm fine with anything, please send them in! Thank you for reading, and hopefully another new fic will be up soon! Lots of love, Liv.


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